Why are we listening to the Bush administration officials anyway? They didn’t get Bin Laden. They’re like the Winklevoss Twins of getting Bin Laden. If you were the guys who were going to kill Bin Laden, you would have killed Bin Laden!
–Jon Stewart on last night’s Daily Show.
[reddit-me]When Bin Laden was killed, many of my more right-wing friends were oddly silent. Rather than the relief I and so many others felt, they seemed discomfited — not by the tactics or legality or potential consequences of the action, but by a cognitive dissonance as they tried to reconcile their visceral dislike of Obama as anti-American and perhaps even sympathetic to terrorists and their approval of his actions. Then Rush Limbaugh gave them the defense mechanism they needed — and suddenly it became glaringly obvious to them that Obama was taking too much credit for the operation, that he had used first person pronouns way too much in the speech. (Though the words of the speech don’t bear that out.)
But worse than Limbaugh’s attempts to insulate his audience from that uncomfortable feeling of challenging their preconceptions about Obama are the former Bush administration officials’ attempts to take credit for themselves, using this triumph of American military force and intelligence to justify their subversion of both.
As outrageous as it sound, the contemporaneous record reflects that the Bush administration prioritized Saddam over Bin Laden shortly after 9/11 and was unwilling to provide the boots on the ground or even drones urgently requested by the CIA and Special Forces tracking Bin Laden in the aftermath. The Bush administration was unwilling to provide the Pakistani army the air transport they claimed they needed to move troops to the border to secure it even as the Bush administration relieved relied upon and trusted the Pakistani army to secure their wild and lawless border to cut off Bin Laden’s escape. Worse still, the “intelligence” provided by illegal, tortured confessions in contradiction of America’s long military and intelligence history were used to justify the Bush administration’s belief that Saddam and Bin Laden were working together on a WMD attack on America — and later, this same intelligence sources under torture, provided the basis for shutting down the team focused on finding Bin Laden, as they pretended he was a mere figurehead. (A logical bit of information to make up if you wanted an interrogation to end and you couldn’t give them the actionable intelligence to find Bin Laden they wanted.) It was this last bit of intelligence which the former Bush administration officials claim credit for being used to find Bin Laden:
Al-Libbi told interrogators that the courier would carry messages from bin Laden to the outside world only every two months or so. “I realized that bin Laden was not really running his organization. You can’t run an organization and have a courier who makes the rounds every two months,” Rodriguez says. “So I became convinced then that this was a person who was just a figurehead and was not calling the shots, the tactical shots, of the organization. So that was significant.”
And later that same year, the CIA shut down its dedicated hunt for OBL.
Obama, upon taking office, did not do anything incredible. What he did do was to apply some common sense that the panic-stricken and Iraq-obsessed Bush administration had missed — he re-focused the national security apparatus on destroying Al Qaeda and Bin Laden. That’s why drone attacks began to increase when he became president. That’s part of the reason why he surged troops into Afghanistan. That’s why — as a candidate — Obama promised that he would go into Pakistan after Bin Laden even if the Pakistanis did not sanction the operation. (This bit of common sense caused Hillary Clinton and John McCain to slam him for his position.) That’s why the Bin Laden operation was so carefully planned for, with every possible scenario gamed out — from scenarios where the Special Forces needed to fight their way out of Pakistan to teams ready to interrogate him.
There was certainly a great deal of luck involved — and if the Bush administration had been presented with the same opportunity to get Bin Laden, I’m sure they would have taken it. But surely it is not a coincidence that the administration that had higher priorities than finding Bin Laden let him slip through their fingers several times while the administration that focused the mighty resources of the United States military and intelligence apparatus on Al Qaeda and Bin Laden found the opportunity that had failed to present itself for seven long years under Bush’s leadership.
Leadership matters. It’s a little too late to take credit now.
34 replies on “The Winklevoss Twins of Getting Bin Laden”
Idiot –
The Bush administration was unwilling to provide the Pakistani army the air transport they claimed they needed to move troops to the border to secure it even as the Bush administration relieved upon and trusted the Pakistani army to secure their wild and lawless border to cut off Bin Laden’s escape.
Nice info man
Great knowledge man, i appreciate it
After research just a few of the blog posts in your web site now, and I actually like your approach of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark website list and will probably be checking again soon. Pls take a look at my site as properly and let me know what you think.
After research a number of of the weblog posts in your web site now, and I actually like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark web site checklist and will probably be checking back soon. Pls take a look at my website online as nicely and let me know what you think.
There are actually plenty of details like that to take into consideration. That is a nice point to bring up. I offer the ideas above as general inspiration but clearly there are questions like the one you carry up where an important factor will likely be working in trustworthy good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged round things like that, but I am sure that your job is clearly identified as a good game. Each boys and girls feel the impact of only a second抯 pleasure, for the remainder of their lives.
Hiya, I’m really glad I’ve found this info. Today bloggers publish just about gossips and internet and this is really irritating. A good web site with exciting content, this is what I need. Thank you for keeping this web site, I’ll be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Cant find it.
Hiya, I’m really glad I have found this info. Today bloggers publish only about gossips and net and this is really frustrating. A good blog with interesting content, this is what I need. Thank you for keeping this website, I will be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Cant find it.
It’s my opinion that a foreclosure can have a significant effect on the borrower’s life. Property foreclosures can have a Seven to a decade negative influence on a borrower’s credit report. A new borrower who have applied for a home loan or almost any loans even, knows that the particular worse credit rating is, the more difficult it is to have a decent financial loan. In addition, it can affect a borrower’s power to find a quality place to let or hire, if that becomes the alternative real estate solution. Good blog post.
My brother suggested I might like this web site. He was totally right. This post truly made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!
you are really a good webmaster. The website loading speed is amazing. It seems that you are doing any unique trick. Furthermore, The contents are masterpiece. you have done a great job on this topic!
Hello, you used to write great, but the last several posts have been kinda boring… I miss your super writings. Past few posts are just a little bit out of track! come on!
That is the proper weblog for anyone who desires to search out out about this topic. You notice so much its nearly laborious to argue with you (not that I really would need…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Great stuff, simply nice!
I just like the valuable info you supply in your articles. I’ll bookmark your blog and test once more right here frequently. I’m rather certain I’ll be informed a lot of new stuff proper here! Good luck for the next!
Oh my goodness! Awesome article dude! Thank you so much, However I am experiencing troubles
with your RSS. I don’t know the reason why I can’t subscribe to it.
Is there anyone else getting similar RSS issues? Anyone who
knows the answer can you kindly respond? Thanx!!
There’s noticeably a bundle to find out about this. I assume you made sure good factors in features also.
Thank you for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do some research on this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I am very glad to see such fantastic info being shared freely out there.
It is in reality a nice and useful piece of information. I’m satisfied that you shared this useful information with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
I have realized that in digital camera models, specialized devices help to maintain focus automatically. The actual sensors with some cameras change in contrast, while others make use of a beam with infra-red (IR) light, specially in low light. Higher specification cameras often use a combination of both techniques and will often have Face Priority AF where the digital camera can ‘See’ the face and concentrate only on that. Many thanks for sharing your notions on this blog.
I have witnessed that wise real estate agents all over the place are getting set to FSBO Promoting. They are noticing that it’s not only placing a sign in the front property. It’s really concerning building human relationships with these retailers who at some time will become customers. So, if you give your time and effort to aiding these dealers go it alone — the “Law involving Reciprocity” kicks in. Great blog post.
In the grand design of things you get an A just for hard work. Where exactly you actually lost everybody was in your details. You know, people say, the devil is in the details… And it couldn’t be much more accurate in this article. Having said that, permit me tell you precisely what did give good results. Your text is definitely extremely convincing and that is most likely the reason why I am making an effort to comment. I do not really make it a regular habit of doing that. Next, although I can certainly notice the leaps in logic you make, I am definitely not convinced of exactly how you appear to unite the ideas that make your conclusion. For now I shall yield to your position however wish in the future you actually connect the dots better.
I just want to say I am just very new to blogging and definitely liked your blog site. Most likely I’m want to bookmark your blog post . You surely have outstanding posts. Bless you for sharing with us your web-site.
I believe what you posted made a bunch of sense. But, what about this?
suppose you wrote a catchier post title? I am not saying your information is not solid., but suppose you added a headline that makes
people desire more? I mean The Winklevoss Twins of Getting Bin Laden – 2parse by
Joe Campbell is a little vanilla. You could peek at Yahoo’s front page and see how they write post headlines to get people to click.
You might add a related video or a picture or
two to get people interested about what you’ve
written. In my opinion, it could bring your website a little livelier.
my weblog – harga obat kutil kelamin
whoah this weblog is magnificent i like studying your posts. Keep up the great work! You understand, many people are hunting around for this info, you can help them greatly.
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You clearly know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?
I’m really loving the theme/design of your blog. Do you ever run into any internet browser compatibility issues? A small number of my blog audience have complained about my site not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Safari. Do you have any solutions to help fix this problem?
In this awesome pattern of things you actually get a B+ just for effort. Where exactly you actually misplaced us was in all the specifics. As as the maxim goes, the devil is in the details… And it couldn’t be much more accurate in this article. Having said that, allow me tell you just what exactly did give good results. Your article (parts of it) is actually pretty convincing and this is possibly why I am taking an effort to opine. I do not really make it a regular habit of doing that. Secondly, although I can notice the leaps in reasoning you come up with, I am not really certain of just how you seem to unite your ideas which produce the final result. For right now I will subscribe to your point but wish in the foreseeable future you actually connect your dots much better.
What i don’t understood is actually how you are not actually much more well-liked than you might be now. You are so intelligent. You realize therefore significantly relating to this subject, produced me personally consider it from a lot of varied angles. Its like women and men aren’t fascinated unless it is one thing to do with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs nice. Always maintain it up!
Hello. fantastic job. I did not imagine this. This is a splendid story. Thanks!
Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem along with your web site in internet explorer, might check this… IE still is the marketplace leader and a large portion of other people will leave out your magnificent writing because of this problem.
ルイヴィトンスーパーコピー
おすすめ人気ブランド腕時計, 最高等級時計大量入荷！ ◆N品質シリアル付きも有り 付属品完備！ ☆★☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆★☆ 以上 宜しくお願い致します。(＾０＾） 広大な客を歓迎して買います！── (*^-^*)
ブランド偽物コピーN級品
スーパーコピー時計N級品，ブランドコピー激安販売通販専門店日本バッグ・財布 ※スーパーコピー専門店、ロレックス、ルイ・ヴィトン、ウブロ、カルティエ フランク・ミュラーなどの新品、商品は100％の品質保証。 ※スーパーコピー専門ショップ・時計・バッグ・財布N級品販売通販！ 「信用第一」「お客様第一」という信念を持ち、弊社は商品の値段を安く提供することに成功したため、 皆様を楽しくお買い物いただけるよう、心を込めて最高なスーパーコピー品をご提供しております。 ご利用を心からお待ちしております。 海外スー…
シャネル スーパーコピー キーケース
ブランド バッグ 財布 コピー 専門店 弊社は平成20年創業致しました、ブランドバッグ.財布コピーの取り扱いの専門会社です。 世界有名なブランドバッグ.財布を日本のお客様に届ける為に5年前にこのネット通販サイトを始めました。 全てのブランドバッグ.財布は激安の価格で提供します、 外見と本物と区別できないほど出来が良くて、質は保証できます、 弊社のブランドバッグ.財布は同類商品の中で最高という自信があります。 発送前に何度もチェックし、癖のある商品と不良品は発送しません。我社創業以来の方針は品質第一、…
ガガミラノ スーパーコピー 口コミ 6回
野球 激安 大ヒットSALE! 【専門店】即日発送!80%以上割引 販売出售,正規品保証! 【新色】最新アイテムを海外通販! 【新商品！】安い卸売,即日発送! 【楽天市場】激安販売中、全国送料無料! 人気新品入荷*正規品* ※正規品※激安販売 【大好評2019】 100%新品代引き対応! 【限定品】超激安販売中! 『激安人気』送料無料. 『最速最新2019年人気新作!!』 愛する品を選択する高級アイテムコンセント 2年保証、返品可能、全国送料無料！ 顧客サービスと速い配送でお客様に手入れ。